.. are worth recording. I get up, drink my coffee, walk my path to campus, drag a deer carcass to the side, play online chess with a friend in Budapest, and make a decent stab at understanding the nature of Nietzsche’s revaluation of values. Hell, it’s not even noon. Continue reading

HEY! 18,000 hits! Whodathunkit. I think I’ll go have a scotch. Continue reading

Back when we bought the Columbia Grafonola, we also bought an old surveyor’s tripod. A trip to the home supply store, a bit of retro-fitting, and — voila! A lamp. Somehow, it doesn’t sound as exciting as it feels. Continue reading

Living in Utah can be both weird and thrilling. Last night we experienced a bit of both by attending a performance by our local American Festival Chorus, under the baton of Craig Jessop, who used to conduct the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and now heads our Department of Music. The evening was to commemorate the bicentennial… Continue reading

Wim Klever is a great scholar of Spinoza. His work over the years has traced significant influences upon Spinoza (say, by Francis van den Enden) and surprising influences of Spinoza on others. I am providing a pdf copy of a paper he recently sent me (“Locke’s Disguised Spinozism”) about Spinoza’s influence on Locke. It is… Continue reading

Find out more here. Continue reading

I had such a great time with Chris (see below) that I concluded, “gotta get me one.” She’s not a true Victrola, but a Columbia Grafonola, of Columbia Record Company. I haven’t really explored thoroughly, so I’m not sure of year or model, but it seems to fall in the 1911-1925 range. Found her at… Continue reading

What a splendid afternoon! Chris and I descended into the Music Department archives and loaded ourselves up with vintage 78s: Wagner, Caruso, Berlioz, etc. Then we went to his house, cranked up the Victorola, and had a proper tea with raisin scones and jam. Next time we hope to have cravats and waistcoats! Continue reading

Tami and Pete enlightened me as to the existence of the “steampunk” genre — folks who write books and make stuff that celebrate the kind of victorian machinery of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells.  Check out this website to see all sorts of steampunked computer stuff — really impressive. Continue reading

If you have 10 minutes, and (like me) enjoy surrealism and machinery, check out this short film. Continue reading

A very intriguing post over at Forschungsjahr about hidden swastikas in a German clothing store. Continue reading

As has been perhaps obvious, my brain has been on vacation for the last month. Finished the Nz book, went to Disneyland, played Wii, drank the kool-aid, etc. Now I’m expecting my brain back any moment. I’ll need it, since as I finished writing the syllabi for my classes in the upcoming term, I realized… Continue reading

A gift from friends Pat and Glen. “Amazing thoughts and ideas. Impressive hair and whiskers.” Continue reading

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Follow this link to see an excellent CBS segment on the historic importance of Obama’s election to the White House, with a moving poem recital by Maya Angelou. Continue reading

We went to Jackson, Wyoming two weekends ago to visit with friends Bill and Diane, see wildlife, and eat at unbelievably good restaurants. Some pics: Hanna had gone there separately with a 3-day class field trip. My favorite moment of the vacation was picking her up from the camp early in the morning. Steam was… Continue reading

I tend to drag my feet when it comes to decorating for any sort of festival. But pumpkin carving remains a delight. Continue reading

My son was helping me fill out a questionnaire from his school, answering questions about how satisfied we are with the teachers, facilities, curriculum, etc. At the end, I could leave comments about what we liked most about his school. I said, “Safety, and windows.” Ben found “windows” just hilarious. I explained that, no matter… Continue reading

Eye-opening story here (in Rolling Stone) about the insidious operation the GOP has in place for throwing out as many as a sixth of a state’s votes — particularly if they come from the sorts of people most likely to vote Democrat. Like Stalin said: it’s those who count the votes who control the election. Continue reading

A drama both exciting and very, very subtle: Continue reading

From “Butcher,” Tom Chiarella, Esquire, September 2008: One morning, tossing trim onto the tray, he turned on the grinder and said: “Look, the rule is, if you feel anything tug, anything at all, you hit the button and run.” He poked the rubber-covered stop button with his thumb. We stood in the walk-in, the compressors… Continue reading

I recently read this great little book by Leszak Kolakowski. He is one of my favorite contemporary philosophers: he’s amazingly learned, and he takes a bemused, skeptical stance toward the human ability to plumb The Great Deep, while at the same time admiring the many attempts to do so. A representative quote: “In all the… Continue reading

A steep climb, but we made unbelievably good time. The Wellsvilles are among the steepest mountains of the world, given their relatively small base. Continue reading